Multi-dimensional locating system and method including a non-linear timescale ordering

ABSTRACT

A computer-readable medium including computer-executable instructions providing a method of displaying arrays of computer-readable files, the method comprising causing a first array of computer-readable files to be displayed, said first array of computer-readable files being displayed along a timeline according to a first timescale; causing a second array of computer-readable files to be displayed, said second array of computer-readable files being displayed along a timeline according to a second timescale. An interface, a computerized system and a method for providing same is also disclosed therein.

CROSS-REFERENCES

The present invention relates to 1) U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/754,219, filed May 25, 2007, entitled MULTI-DIMENSIONAL LOCATINGSYSTEM AND METHOD, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,826,123; 2) U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/885,120, filed Sep. 13, 2007, entitledINFORMATION ELEMENTS LOCATING SYSTEM AND METHOD, now U.S. Pat. No.8,069,404; 3) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/944,014, filed Nov.21, 2007, entitled METHOD AND TOOL FOR CLASSIFYING DOCUMENTS TO ALLOW AMULTI-DIMENSIONAL GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,788,937;and 4) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/774,591, filed Jul. 7, 2007,entitled INFORMATION ELEMENTS LOCATING SYSTEM AND METHOD, now U.S. Pat.No. 8,010,508 all of these cited documents being incorporated herein byreference. The present invention also relates to 4) United States PatentApplication Publication No. US 2007/0214169 A1, published Sep. 13, 2007,entitled MULTI-DIMENSIONAL LOCATING SYSTEM AND METHOD; and 5) UnitedStates Patent Application No. US 2007/0271508 A1, published Nov. 22,2007, entitled MULTI-DIMENSIONAL LOCATING SYSTEM AND METHOD. Both ofthese documents are incorporated herein by reference. Additionally, thisapplication is a continuation of and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §120 to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/543,566, filed Aug. 18, 2019,which '566 Application is a continuation of and claims priority under §120 to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/930,744, filed Nov. 3, 2015,now U.S. Pat. No. 10,430,495, which '744 Application is a continuationof and claims priority under § 120 to U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/798,969, filed Mar. 13, 2013, which '969 Application is acontinuation of and claims priority under § 120 to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/125,908, filed May 22, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No.8,601,392, which '908 Application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to each of: U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/957,444,filed Aug. 22, 2007; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/971,214,filed Sep. 10, 2007; and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.61/034,625, filed Mar. 7, 2008. All of these cited documents areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to computer systems and morespecifically to user interfaces for computer systems that facilitateslocalization and organization of documents along timelines.

2. Description of the Related Art

United States Patent Application Publication No.: US 2007/0214169 A1,published on Sep. 13, 2007 discloses a Multi-dimensional locating systemand method (title). The patent application discloses ways for managingand displaying vectors of documents and other computer-readable files. Avector of documents groups a plurality of documents along apredetermined order, inter alia, is taught.

United States Patent Application Publication No.: US 2007/0271508 A1,published on Nov. 22, 2007 discloses a Multi-dimensional locating systemand method (title). A plurality of vectors of documents sharing a commontimeline is disclosed.

Under some circumstances it is useful to display documents along atimeline although it can prevent an efficient use of the display areawhen, for example, no documents are located on the timeline over asignificant period of time.

More than one vector of documents are displayable wherein each vector ofdocuments can group documents having a specific attribute in common.Thus the number of documents chronologically disposed on each vector ofdocuments can vary and a timescale commonly shared by the vectors ofdocuments does not maximize the use of the display area.

Using the same timescale for a plurality of vectors of documents with adifferent number of documents on each vector for the same period of timedoes not allow an efficient simultaneous display of the vectors ofdocuments. If the timescale is based on a vector of documents havingmany documents, another vector of documents that has very littledocuments will almost be empty. Conversely, if the timescale is based onthe vector of documents having very little documents, the other vectorwill be so crowded with documents that it will hardly be possible tousefully glance through the documents. The documents being not enoughevenly distributed on both vectors of documents it becomes difficult toappreciate documents displayed on different vectors of documents at thesame time with the same timescale.

Another issue arise when one vector of documents is more insightfullydisplaying its documents according to a linear timeline to show, forexample, the distribution of the documents on the vector and anothervector of documents displays that documents according to a non-lineartimeline (i.e. because there is no added value to show the distributionof the documents along the timeline). A common timeline can thereforehardly be used for both arrays of documents.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order toprovide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. Thissummary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is notintended to identify key/critical elements of the invention or todelineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to presentsome concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to themore detailed description that is presented later.

It is one aspect of the present invention to provide more than onetimeline along which arrays of documents/computer-readablefiles/multimedia assets are displayed.

Another aspect of the present invention provides an interface adapted todisplay arrays of documents chronologically displaying documents alongtimelines using different timescales.

One other aspect of the present invention provides an interface adaptedto display documents along a timeline using a linear timescale, wherethe documents are not evenly displayed along the timeline representingtime in a linear fashion, and documents along a timeline using anon-linear timescale, presenting documents with a substantially constantinterval therebetween.

One other aspect of the invention provides a combined view where aplurality of arrays of documents displaying documents along a timelineusing a linear timescale are displayed with a plurality of arrays ofdocuments displaying documents along a timeline using a non-lineartimescale.

Another aspect of the invention provides separate display areas (or timespace) respectively displaying arrays of documents about distincttimelines in each display area. The timelines can use a non-linear or alinear timescale.

An aspect of the present invention provides a plurality of arrays ofdocuments displayed along their respective timelines and adapted to moveindependently along their respective timeline.

One other aspect of the present invention provides a display withmultiple time-spaces, each time-space displaying a timeline with its owntimescale.

One aspect of the present invention provides a display with multipletime-spaces, each time-space displaying a timeline using either a lineartimescale or a non-linear timescale.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a function to changethe timescale of an array of documents between a linear timescale and anon-linear timescale.

An aspect of the present invention provides a first time-space on afirst display and a second time-space on a second display.

One aspect of the present invention provides time marks that are sharedbetween a plurality of arrays of documents using a compatible timescale.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a computerized systemadapted to read computer executable instructions adapted to enable aprogram element enabling an interface adapted to display arrays ofdocuments, the computerized system comprising a processing unit adaptedto process the computer executable instructions, a display adapted todisplay the interface; and the program element, when executed, beingoperative for causing an array of computer-readable files to bedisplayed, the array of computer readable files being displayed along atimeline according to a first timescale; and causing an array ofcomputer readable files to be displayed, the array of computer readablefiles being displayed along a timeline according to a second timescale.

One other aspect of the present invention provides a computer interfacecomprising a first array of documents to be displayed, said first arrayof documents being displayed along a timeline according to a firsttimescale; a second array of documents to be displayed, said secondarray of documents being displayed along a timeline according to asecond timescale.

An aspect of the present invention provides a computer-readable mediumincluding computer-executable instructions providing a method ofdisplaying arrays of computer-readable files, the method comprisingcausing a first array of computer-readable files to be displayed, saidfirst array of computer-readable files being displayed along a timelineaccording to a first timescale; causing a second array ofcomputer-readable files to be displayed, said second array ofcomputer-readable files being displayed along a timeline according to asecond timescale.

These and other advantages and features of the present invention willbecome apparent from the following description and the attacheddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a computer system;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of one exemplary process that can be used tocreate a new array of documents;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an illustrative display portion of agraphical user interface displaying a plurality of arrays of documentsalong a linear timeline;

FIG. 4 is the schematic view of FIG. 3 with additional intersectingarrays of documents;

FIG. 5 is the schematic view of FIG. 3 with invisible units of time;

FIG. 6 is the schematic view of FIG. 3 with non-aligned time marks;

FIG. 7 is the schematic view of FIG. 3 with non-aligned time marks andinvisible units of time;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of an illustrative graphical user interfacedisplaying a plurality of arrays of documents along a non-lineartimeline;

FIG. 9 is the schematic view of FIG. 8 with units of time about tobecome invisible;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of an illustrative graphical user interfacedisplaying a plurality of arrays of documents along a non-lineartimeline;

FIG. 11 is the schematic view of FIG. 10 with some invisible units oftime;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of an illustrative graphical user interfacedisplaying a plurality of arrays of documents along a non-lineartimeline; and

FIG. 13 is a schematic view of a plurality of arrays of documents alongeither a non-linear timeline or a linear timeline.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT(S) OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is now described with reference to the drawings,wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elementsthroughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation,numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It may be evident, however, thatthe present invention may be practiced without these specific details.In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in blockdiagram form in order to facilitate describing the present invention.

The features provided in this specification mainly relates to computersoftware and machine-readable code/instructions. This code/instructionsare preferably stored on a machine-readable medium to be read and actedupon to with a computer or a machine having the appropriatecode/instructions reading capability.

FIG. 1 and the following discussion provide a brief, general descriptionof an exemplary apparatus in which at least some aspects of the presentinvention may be implemented. The present invention will be described inthe general context of computer-executable instructions, such as programmodules, being executed by a personal computer. However, the methods ofthe present invention may be affected by other apparatus. Programmodules may include routines, programs, objects, components, datastructures, etc. that perform a task(s) or implement particular abstractdata types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that atleast some aspects of the present invention may be practiced with otherconfigurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, networkcomputers, minicomputers, set top boxes, mainframe computers, portablephones and the like. At least some aspects of the present invention mayalso be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks areperformed by remote processing devices linked through a communicationsnetwork (i.e. client-server, internet based application, . . . ). In adistributed computing environment, program modules may be located inlocal and/or remote memory storage devices.

With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary apparatus 100 for implementing atleast some aspects of the present invention includes a general purposecomputing device in the form of a conventional personal computer 120.The personal computer 120 may include a processing unit 121, a systemmemory 122, and a system bus 123 that couples various system components,including the system memory 122, to the processing unit 121. The systembus 123 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memorybus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any ofa variety of bus architectures. The system memory may include read onlymemory (ROM) 124 and/or random access memory (RAM) 125. A basicinput/output system 126 (BIOS), containing basic routines that help totransfer information between elements within the personal computer 120,such as during start-up, may be stored in ROM 124. The personal computer120 may also include a hard disk drive 127 for reading from and writingto a hard disk, (not shown), a magnetic disk drive 128 for reading fromor writing to a (e.g., removable) magnetic disk 129, and an optical diskdrive 130 for reading from or writing to a removable (magneto) opticaldisk 131 such as a compact disk or other (magneto) optical media. Thehard disk drive 127, magnetic disk drive 128, and (magneto) optical diskdrive 130 may be coupled with the system bus 123 by a hard disk driveinterface 132, a magnetic disk drive interface 133, and a (magneto)optical drive interface 134, respectively. The drives and theirassociated storage media provide nonvolatile (or persistent) storage ofmachine readable instructions, data structures, program modules andother data for the personal computer 120. Although the exemplaryenvironment described herein employs a hard disk, a removable magneticdisk 129 and a removable optical disk 131, those skilled in the art willappreciate that other types of storage media, such as magneticcassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks, Bernoullicartridges, random access memories (RAMs), read only memories (ROM), andthe like, may be used instead of, or in addition to, the storage devicesintroduced above.

A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk 127, magneticdisk 129, (magneto) optical disk 131, ROM 124 or RAM 125, such as anoperating system 135 (for example, Windows® NT® 4.0, sold by Microsoft®Corporation of Redmond, Wash.), one or more application programs 136,other program modules 137 (such as “Alice”, which is a research systemdeveloped by the User Interface Group at Carnegie Mellon Universityavailable at www.Alice.org, OpenGL from Silicon Graphics Inc. ofMountain View Calif., or Direct 3D from Microsoft Corp. of BellevueWash.), and/or program data 138 for example.

A user may enter commands and information into the personal computer 120through input devices, such as a keyboard 140, a camera 141 and pointingdevice 142 for example. Other input devices (not shown) such as amicrophone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, a touchsensitive screen, or the like may also be included. These and otherinput devices are often connected to the processing unit 121 through aserial port interface 146 coupled to the system bus. However, inputdevices may be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, agame port or a universal serial bus (USB). For example, since thebandwidth of the camera 141 may be too great for the serial port, thevideo camera 141 may be coupled with the system bus 123 via a videocapture card (not shown). The video monitor 147 or other type of displaydevice may also be connected to the system bus 123 via an interface,such as a video adapter 148 for example. The video adapter 148 mayinclude a graphics accelerator. One or more speaker 162 may be connectedto the system bus 123 via a sound card 161 (e.g., a wave tablesynthesizer such as product number AWE64 Gold Card from Creative® Labsof Milpitas, Calif.). In addition to the monitor 147 and speaker(s) 162,the personal computer 120 may include other peripheral output devices(not shown), such as a printer for example. As an alternative or anaddition to the video monitor 147, a stereo video output device, such asa head mounted display or LCD shutter glasses for example, could beused.

The personal computer 120 may operate in a networked environment whichdefines logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as aremote computer 149. The remote computer 149 may be another personalcomputer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or othercommon network node, and may include many or all of the elementsdescribed above relative to the personal computer 120, although only amemory storage device has been illustrated in FIG. 1. The logicalconnections depicted in FIG. 1 include a local area network (LAN) 151and a wide area network (WAN) 152, an intranet and the Internet.

When used in a LAN, the personal computer 120 may be connected to theLAN 151 through a network interface adapter (or “NIC”) 153. When used ina WAN, such as the Internet, the personal computer 120 may include amodem 154 or other means for establishing communications over the widearea network 152 (e.g. Wi-Fi, WinMax). The modem 154, which may beinternal or external, may be connected to the system bus 123 via theserial port interface 146. In a networked environment, at least some ofthe program modules depicted relative to the personal computer 120 maybe stored in the remote memory storage device. The network connectionsshown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communicationslink between the computers may be used.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of one exemplary way to create an array ofdocuments (or an array of computer-readable files or an array ofmultimedia assets). A user of the computer interface desires to create anew array of documents 172. The user decides what timescale will use thetimeline of the new array of documents 176. If a linear timescale isselected the documents will be disposed on the new array of documentsalong a timeline using a linear timescale 178. Conversely, if anon-linear timescale is selected the documents will be disposed on thenew array of documents along a timeline using a non-linear timescale174. Continuing with the new array of documents using a non-lineartimescale 174 the user can decide whether isolated movement of the newarray of documents along its timeline will be allowed 182. The locationof the new array of documents on the display is then selected 186 andthe new array of documents is displayed on the display 190.

Returning back to the new array of documents using the linear timescale178. Once the type of timescale is decided the user decides if s/hewants to associate the linear timescale of the new array of documentswith an already existing array of documents using a linear timescale180. If no association with another array of documents is made then theprocess follows the route explained above at box 182. In contrast, ifthe linear timescale of the new array of documents is associated withanother array of documents, the another array of documents is thenselected among other arrays of documents 184. The array of documents tobe selected can already be associated with a number of other arrays ofdocuments thus all sharing the same linear timescale. Once the otherarray of documents is selected then the location of the display of thenew array of document is decided 188. It can be made by a simpleselection on the display but preferably next to the array of documentswith which the timescale is shared so that the time marks can becommonly shared. The new array of documents is then displayed 192. Thisends 194 one exemplary way to create a new array of documents takinginto consideration the type of timescale to be used in addition toseveral other related decisions.

Now that a general process has been explained we will move to a moredetailed explanation of its constituting parts.

In the context of the present invention the following terms aregenerally used with their associated meaning.

Document: A piece of information. Generally a computer file usuallycreated with an application (such as a word processor) carrying textual,audio, video or graphical information.

Timeline: A chronological order adapted to position documents accordingto a time-related parameter.

Timescale: The time distribution along the timeline.

Linear timescale: Substantially constant time distribution.

Non-linear timescale: Substantially variable time distribution.

Array: A regular and imposing grouping or arrangement ofdocuments/files/assets. Generally an array of documents will disposedocuments along a substantially rectilinear fashion although otherdispositions (such as inter alia multiple rectilinear superposition,matrixes, flow charts like disposition, tri-dimensional distribution)are encompassed by the present definition.

Combined view: Display of arrays of documents having differenttimescales.

Display: Means for displaying a graphical representation of an array ofdocuments. Commonly referred to, inter alia, a computer screen, atelevision, a projector, a touch sensitive screen and a means to providetri-dimensional graphical rendering.

Time-space: Means for displaying arrays of documents using a similartimescale. The time-space can accommodate a single array of document.

Embodiment One—Linear Timescale with Aligned Time Marks Between Arraysof Documents Having Units of Time of Similar Duration

FIG. 3 illustrates three arrays of documents 200.1, 200.2, 200.3disposed next to one another on a computer interface 8. Each array ofdocuments 200.1, 200.2, 200.3 has a vector-like shape and is borderedwith guides 208 to visually emphasis the width and the direction of theeach array of documents 200.1, 200.2, 200.3. Each array of documents200.1, 200.2, 200.3 displays a series of documents 10 disposed along atimeline 202. Each array of documents 200.1, 200.2, 200.3 can group anddisplay a plurality of documents 10 having a commonality. A commonalitylike an attribute associated with each document or a tag in common sothat only a subset of a larger group of documents 10 is displayed. Inthe present situation the timeline is a chronological timeline wherepositive time 206 is heading to the right of FIG. 3. Each document 10 isdisposed along the timeline 202 on its array of documents 200.1, 200.2,200.3 in accordance with a time-related criteria that can be, interalia, the time of insertion of the document 10 in the computer systemrunning the interface, the time at which a document was modified last,the time of creation of the document, the last viewed time, the end of adelay, a bar date, the date by which a document should be received inreaction to an action made earlier in time or simply an arbitrary timeassociated with each document. The user can decide, for instance, thatall documents 10 will be displayed along their related timelines usingthe time of insertion of the documents in the computer system. This wayall documents will be disposed on a timeline at the exact time they wereinserted in the computer system. For simplification each document canappear during the day of its insertion in the system and not preciselyat the exact hour.

Still on FIG. 3, each array of documents 200.1, 200.2, 200.3 isseparated in unit of time. In this case the units of time are days D1,D2, D3, D4. Each unit of time D1, D2, D3, D4 is separated with a timemark 204. For example, day 1 (D1), day 2 (D2), day 3 (D3), day 4 (D4)and day 5 (D5) all have the same length 212 and are each respectivelyseparated by a time mark 204. In this case, the illustrative example isusing a “day” as time unit but it could be minutes, hours, weeks,months, years, fiscal year, a project milestones or any other customduration of time. Each unit of time D1, D2, D3, D4 on FIG. 3 isrepresented with a constant time length 212. The first document 10.1 onthe array of documents 200.1 was, for example, inserted in the computersystem on the second half of the day represented by unit of time D1. Nodocument was inserted on D2 and so on so forth.

The timescale of all arrays of documents depicted on FIG. 3 is a lineartimescale. This means that the duration of each unit of time D1, D2, D3,D4 is represented having the same length 212. The constant time length212 provides the possibility of aligning 214 each time mark 204 to unifythe timescale of all arrays of documents 200.1, 200.2, 200.3, 200.4.

Still referring to FIG. 3, the distance between each array of documents200.1, 200.2, 200.3 can be the same of it can vary depending on what isdesired by the user of the computer interface 8. Each document 10 isrepresented with a rectangle 12 but other shapes are encompassed by thepresent invention. The rectangular shape 12 is used because it infersmore easily with a sheet of paper in the present illustrative example.Each document 10 is either displaying the document itself, a thumbnailof the document or an icon depending on the purpose of the view, thelevel of the zoom and/or the desired amount of details to be shown. Apicture taken in landscape would have a different shape and the presentinvention does not intend to be limited to the illustrative shapesdisplayed in the Figures.

In the following Figures all documents 10, time marks 204 and timelength 212 might not be individually associated with a related referencenumber to avoid unusefully overloading the Figures. The Applicantassumes that people skilled in the art of computer interface will not beconfused with the omitted reference numbers on the Figures whenconsidered in light of the description and will be resourceful enough torefer to a Figure where the reference number is indicated or relevantpassage from the description in case of need.

Turning back now to FIG. 4 illustrating the same three arrays ofdocuments 200.1, 200.2, 200.3 from FIG. 3. Two additional arrays ofdocuments 200.4, 200.5 have been added non-parallel to the three firstarrays of documents 200.1, 200.2, 200.3. Array 200.4 is logicallyintersecting array 200.2, based on intersecting document 20. Array 200.4also shows time marks 204 and constant time lengths 212. Similarly,intersecting array 200.5 is logically intersecting array 200.1, based onintersecting document 20. Array 200.5 also shows time marks 204 andvariable time lengths 222 that will be discussed below. The role ofintersecting arrays 200.4, 200.5 is explained in details in a previouspatent application referenced by the instant patent application and willnot be discussed here in details.

The array of documents 200.1 illustrated on FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 has a unitof time D2 containing no documents. Depending on the situation it mightbe helpful to see the distribution of the documents 10 depicted alongthe timeline 202 of array 200.1 with the empty units of time. However,it is also a loss of space on the display if the distribution of thedocuments 10 on the array and the showing of a unit of time D2 showingno documents 10 are not insightful. Removal of specific units of time orempty units of time can be desirable. For example, a unit of time D4might not contain documents 10 that are desirable to see and this unitof time D4 might be removed from the display. The removal of units oftime can be made manually by a user of automatically if, for instance,there is no documents in a time unit or if only documents having aspecified attribute are present.

An alternate view of FIG. 3 hiding unit of time D4 is illustrated onFIG. 5. The unit of time D4 is hidden and the time marks 204 juxtaposedto the unit of time D4 have been moved close one to each other to form adistinctive visual time mark 30 that is called invisible unit of timetime mark 30. The selection of invisible unit of time mark 30 by theuser of the interface can provide information about the invisible timeperiod and the possibility of display it if desired. A selection of oneor many unit(s) of time D can offer the possibility to render invisiblethis portion of the timeline.

Embodiment Two—Linear Timescale with Non-Aligned Time Marks BetweenArrays of Documents Having Units of Time of Similar Duration

FIG. 6 illustrates the three arrays of documents 200.1, 200.2, 200.3 ofFIG. 3 with the difference that the time marks 204 are not alignedanymore as indicated by dotted arrow 230. Despite the three arrays ofdocuments 200.1, 200.2, 200.3 sharing a similar linear timescale theycannot share the same timemarks 204.

Array of document 200.2 has been individually translated in the positive206 direction of the timeline 202 as indicated by arrow 234 while thefirst array of documents 200.1 remained in the same position. The thirdarray of documents 200.3 has slightly been individually translated inthe negative direction of the timeline 202 as indicated by arrow 236.

The translation along the timeline of an array of documents 200.2, 200.3allows a user to visualize a different unit of time on the array ofdocuments. For example, array of documents 200.1 displays units of timeD1, D2, D3, D4 while units of time D18, D19, D20, D21 are displayed forthe second array of documents 200.2. The third array of documents 200.3is still displaying the same units of time D1, D2, D3, D4 as the firstarray of documents 200.1 although a slight translation has began andunit of time D5 is now partially visible anymore.

The translation of an array of document can be made with an appropriatecontrol in communication with the computer system to manage the arraysof documents on the interface. For instance, the arrow keys on thekeyboard, a mouse, a pointing device, fingers on a tactile screen, agamepad or any other means to influence the position of the arrays onthe display is encompassed by the present invention. In the presentexample a point-click-hold-and-move set of actions with a pointingdevice has positioned the arrays of documents.

Referring to FIG. 7 one can appreciate that, as indicated by arrow 238,unit of time D4 from array of documents 200.1 has been hidden in favorof adjacent units of time D3, D5 containing documents. Several units oftime (e.g. D20 to D25 and D27) have been hidden from array of documents200.2 as indicated by invisible unit of time timemarks 240, 242. Onarray of documents 200.3, units of time D3, D4 are in the process ofbeing hidden to benefit units of time D2, D5. Invisible unit of timetimemarks 244, 246 are already displayed on array of documents 200.3 anda length 248 will not be visible anymore until the interface isinstructed to render this length 248 visible again. Units of timeincluding documents can be hidden if required by the user based on somecriterions like a selected attribute.

Embodiment Three—Linear Timescale with Non-Aligned Time Marks BetweenArrays of Documents Having Units of Time of Dissimilar Durations

FIG. 7 illustrates three arrays of documents 200.1, 200.2, 200.3 havinga linear timescale. The linear timescale of each array of documents ishowever different as opposed to the previous illustrative exampledepicted on FIG. 6. On FIG. 8, the first array 200.1 uses unit of time212.1 having a duration of time that is longer than the duration of theunit of time 212.2 of array 200.3. The duration of the unit of time212.3 of array 200.3 is longer than the duration of time of unit of time212.2 but shorter than the duration of unit of time 212.1. A differentnumber of unit of time 212 can be shown on the same display width.

Since arrays 200.1, 200.2, 200.3 are not using the same duration of unitof time they cannot share the same time marks 204. The duration of theunit of time of each array of documents can be selected individually toprovide the view that is the most suited for the user. If for instancearray 200.1 is displaying documents 10 that are more important than thedocuments displayed by array 200.2, then, the duration of the unit oftime 212.1 can be set to be longer than the duration of the unit of time212.2. Because the durations of time of each array of documents isdistinct the time marks cannot be used collectively.

Referring now to FIG. 9 one can appreciate the same arrays of documentsas the ones displayed on FIG. 8 although lengths of time 248 from array200.2 are about to be rendered invisible. The principle has beenexplained before and it will not be re-explained here. The samemechanism is simply applied in this embodiment.

Embodiment Four—Arrays of Documents Using Non-Linear Timescales

Turning now to FIG. 10 displaying three new arrays of documents 200.6,200.7, 200.8. Each of these arrays of documents 200.6, 200.7, 200.8 aredisplaying documents 10 along their respective timelines 202 using anon-linear timescale. The non-linear time line is giving up thelinearity of time in favor of an even documents distribution using moreefficiently the space available on the array of documents. The use of anon-linear timescale disposes each document 10 at a substantiallyconstant interval. For instance, array of documents 200.6 display aportion of its first time unit D1 having a length 222.1 corresponding tothe length needed to display all documents 10 that need to be displayedin time unit D1. The second time unit D2 on array of documents 200.6displays six documents 10 along the timeline 202 and the length 222.2 isthe length needed to evenly distribute and display the six documents 10.The same for the third time unit D3 with its four documents. Each timeunit D1, D2, D3 is separated with a time mark 204 from the otheradjacent time unit.

Still on FIG. 10, array of documents 200.7 displays time units D156,D157, D158, D159, D160, D161, D162. Each time unit D156-D162 contains anumber of documents 10 and the length of each time unit 222.4, 222.5,222.6, 222.7, 222.8, 222.9, 222.10 is proportional to the length neededto equally distribute the number of documents belonging to each unit oftime. The same logic applies to array of documents 200.8 with units oftime D88-D92 and timeline lengths 222.11-222.15.

Each array of documents 200.6, 200.7, 200.8 can be displaced along thetimeline 202 like it is respectively indicated by arrows 250, 252, 254.This explains why different time periods are visible on each arraydespite they appear one over the other. The time marks 204 are notaligned across the three arrays of documents because the length of eachtime unit D* is not standardized (e.g. non-linear timescale) in contrastto the standardized length of units of time used by a linear timescaleas previously described.

The non-linear timescale 220 does save space on the display becausethere are no empty spaces left out as opposed to the use of a lineartimescale 210 always using the same length for each unit of time.

Referring now to FIG. 11 one can appreciate the removal of particulartime units. Time units D162 is now invisible and invisible unit of timetime mark 30 identifies the location of the invisible time units. Arrayof documents 200.8 has two invisible unit of time time marks 30 becauseunits of time D91-D94 and D96 are invisible. The same principle ofinvisibility is applied here on arrays of documents 200.6, 200.7, 2008using a non-linear timescale 220.

Embodiment Five—Arrays of Documents Using Non-Linear Timescales andAligned Time Marks

FIG. 12 illustrates another embodiment where the three arrays ofdocuments 200.9, 200.10, 200.11 are using a shard non-linear timescaleto display the documents along their timelines 202. On FIG. 12 however,despite a non-linear timescale is used, the time marks 204 are alignedacross all arrays of documents 200.9, 200.10, 200.11. This is possibleby grouping the three arrays of documents 200.9, 200.10, 200.11 anddefining the length of each unit of time D* by using the longer length222 needed across all the arrays of documents 200.9, 200.10, 200.11. Inthe illustrative example depicted by FIG. 12 unit of time D2 uses thelength 222.22 based on the length needed to fit the five documents 10 onarray 200.9. Unit of time D3 uses the length 222.23 based on the lengthneeded to fit the two documents 10 on array 200.10, unit of time D4 usesthe length 222.24 based on the length needed to fit a single document 10on array 200.9 and unit of time D5 uses the length 222.25 based on thelength needed to fit the three documents 10 on array 200.11. Unit oftime D6 have the length of a single document 10 to accommodate onedocument located in two arrays 200.9, 200.11.

This type of presentation allows grouping and aligning the time marks204 of a plurality of arrays of documents using a non-linear timescale220. The save in display space is not as good as the previous embodimenthowever it might be more easy to see the same time period 222 on severalarrays of documents 200 at once. The movement 250, 252, 254 along thetimeline 202 of the arrays of documents 200.9, 200.10, 200.11 arepreferably connected 256 so that all arrays are moving together to keepthe time marks 204.

Embodiment Six—Combined View of Arrays of Documents Using Non-Linear andNon-Linear Timescales

FIG. 13 illustrates a view of the interface presenting a plurality ofarrays of documents 200.6, 200.7, 200.8, 200.12, 200.1, 200.2, 200.3.Arrays of documents 200.6, 200.7, 200.8 are using a non-linear timescaleto display the documents along their time line 202. Conversely, arraysof documents 200.12, 200.1, 200.2, 200.3 are using a linear timescale todisplay the documents along their timeline 202.

Documents on the arrays of documents 200.6, 200.7 are smaller than thedocuments on arrays of documents 200.12, for instance, because it wasdesired to show more documents 10 on these arrays of documents despitethe documents 10 are smaller. Arrays of documents 200.6 also illustratesa cut in the timeline 202 illustrated by the invisible unit of time timemark 30 where a unit of time 222 is invisible.

The time marks 204 on arrays of documents 200.6, 200.7, 200.8 are notaligned because, as explained earlier, they are not sharing the samelinear timescale thus they have different unit of time 222 lengths.

Turning now to arrays of documents 200.12, 200.1, 200.2, 200.3 using alinear timescale. The units of time length 212.1 of the array 200.12 arelonger than the unit of time length 212.3 used by the arrays 200.1,200.2, 200.3 therefore less units of time will be displayed on the samedisplay for array 200.12 and the time marks 204 cannot be aligned 262 orshared. However, arrays of documents 200.1, 200.2, 200.3 are using acommon linear timescale 210 and can therefore share time marks 204between them. The arrays can also be moved 250, 252, 254, 258, 260,individually, in groups or collectively 260, along the timeline 202.Arrays of documents 200.1, 200.2, 200.3 also illustrate a cut in thetimeline 202 illustrated by the invisible unit of time time mark 30where one or many units of time 212.3 are invisible in accordance withthe desire of an hypothetical user.

All the arrays of documents illustrated on FIG. 13 can be reordered(i.e. vertically) to meet one's preferences. Spaces can be left betweentwo arrays although they are all presented sharing no space therebetweenon the illustrative FIG. 13.

All the arrays of documents can be displayed on the same “combined”time-space. Although, it might be desirable to separate each arrays ofdocuments using a distinct timescale, for ease of use of the interfaceor for programming purpose, to group arrays of documents either usingsimilar linear timescale or non-linear timescale. This grouping can alsobe made on the basis of the timescale used to distribute the documents10 on the arrays of documents. Each group of arrays of documents willdefine a time-space because they all commonly share either the linearityof the timeline or they share the same unit of time length and cantherefore share the time marks 204. This also allows a user to changethe strength of the zoom (zoom-in/zoom-out) on only one time-space atthe time, change the size of the documents, navigate through time 202 ona single time-space while the other time-spaces (or a single array ofdocuments defining its own time-space) are kept still.

The use of various time-space can be made on a single display or on aplurality of displays. For example, each display could present a singletime-space and navigate the arrays of documents more consistently. Inthe case where more than one time-space is displayed on a single displaythen they can appear with a gap therebetween, in different windows orsimply using alternate views where each view display one time-space atthe time and the switch between the views is made by actuating an iconor a predetermined set of keys on a keyboard.

The description and the drawings that are presented above are meant tobe illustrative of the present invention. They are not meant to belimiting of the scope of the present invention. Modifications to theembodiments described may be made without departing from the presentinvention, the scope of which is defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for graphically organizing andmanipulating a plurality of information elements on a display of acomputer, the method comprising: retrieving a plurality of informationelements from a storage location operably connected to the computer, atleast some of said information elements having at least onecharacterization attribute associated therewith; graphically organizingthe plurality of information elements retrieved from the storagelocation along a first vector or axis on the display; and receivinginput from a user of the computer corresponding to a selectedcharacterization attribute associated with a related informationelement, the selected characterization attribute being selected by theuser of the computer from among characterization attributes of theplurality of information elements along the first vector or axis; thefirst axis being adapted to graphically organize a subset of theplurality of information elements along a second vector or axis on thedisplay, the first and second vectors or axes being organized on thedisplay such that the second vector or axis intersects or adjoins thefirst vector or axis at a non-zero degree angle at a location proximateto the related information element, wherein the subset of the pluralityof information elements includes information elements having theselected characterization attribute associated therewith; wherein adisplayed portion of the first vector or axis of information elementsrepresents a timeline adapted to display information elements in achronological order, the timeline having a linear timescale, wherein aplurality of time periods are visually represented with time marks beingdisplayed on the first vector or axis separated at equal lengths ofdistance, with each of the plurality of time periods being displayedwith a respective time mark, the displayed portion of the first vectoror axis displaying an analogous graphical spacing between adjacentinformation elements between two consecutive time marks; wherein themethod further includes, based on user interaction, modifying thedisplay of the first vector or axis such that the displayed portion ofthe timeline has a non-linear timescale, wherein a plurality of timeperiods are visually represented with time marks being displayed on thefirst vector or axis separated at unequal lengths of distance, with eachof the plurality of time periods being displayed with a respective timemark and with at least one information element being displayed with eachtime period, the displayed portion of the first vector or axisdisplaying the analogous graphical spacing between adjacent informationelements between two consecutive time marks.
 2. A method as recited inclaim 1, wherein the first vector or axis of information elements andthe second vector or axis of information elements have at least oneinformation element in common.
 3. A method as recited in claim 1,wherein the second vector or axis of information elements is adapted tobe, at least partially, displayable co-planar with the first vector oraxis of information elements.
 4. A method as recited in claim 1, whereinthe selected characterization attribute is selected from the groupconsisting of the characterization attributes associated with at leastone of the information elements of the first vector or axis ofinformation elements.
 5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein theselected characterization attribute is selected by selecting aninformation element from the first vector or axis of informationelements.
 6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first vector oraxis is displayed vertically.
 7. A method as recited in claim 1, whereinat least one information element displayed by the display is a graphicalrepresentation of its content.
 8. A method as recited in claim 1,wherein at least one of the vectors or axes of information elements isadapted to display the information elements along a linear disposition.9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least one informationelement is a music file.
 10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein atleast one information element is a picture.
 11. A method as recited inclaim 1, wherein a displayed portion of the second vector or axis ofinformation elements represents a timeline adapted to displayinformation elements in a chronological order, the timeline having alinear timescale, wherein a plurality of time periods are visuallyrepresented with time marks being displayed on the first vector or axisseparated at equal lengths of distance, with each of the plurality oftime periods being displayed with a respective time mark, the displayedportion of the second vector or axis displaying an analogous graphicalspacing between adjacent information elements between two consecutivetime marks.
 12. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least oneinformation element is music album art.
 13. A non-transitory computerreadable memory tangibly storing a program for organizing andmanipulating information elements on a device that, when executed by acomputer, causes the computer to execute a method comprising: retrievinga plurality of information elements from a storage location operablyconnected to the computer, at least some of said information elementshaving at least one characterization attribute associated therewith;graphically organizing the plurality of information elements retrievedfrom the storage location along a first vector or axis on the display;and receiving input from a user of the computer corresponding to aselected characterization attribute associated with a relatedinformation element, the related characterization attribute beingselected by the user of the computer from among characterizationattributes of the plurality of information elements along the firstvector or axis; the first axis being adapted to graphically organize asubset of the plurality of information elements along a second vector oraxis on the display, the first and second vectors or axes being adaptedto be organized on the display such that the second vector or axisintersects or adjoins the first vector or axis at a non-zero degreeangle at a location proximate to the related information element,wherein the subset of the plurality of information elements includesinformation elements having the selected characterization attributeassociated therewith; wherein a displayed portion of the first vector oraxis of information elements represents a timeline adapted to displayinformation elements in a chronological order, the timeline having alinear timescale, wherein a plurality of time periods are visuallyrepresented with time marks being displayed on the first vector or axisseparated at equal lengths of distance, with each of the plurality oftime periods being displayed with a respective time mark, the displayedportion of the first vector or axis displaying an analogous graphicalspacing between adjacent information elements between two consecutivetime marks; wherein the method further includes, based on userinteraction, modifying the display of the first vector or axis such thatthe displayed portion of the timeline has a non-linear timescale,wherein a plurality of time periods are visually represented with timemarks being displayed on the first vector or axis separated at unequallengths of distance, with each of the plurality of time periods beingdisplayed with a respective time mark and with at least one informationelement being displayed with each time period, the displayed portion ofthe first vector or axis displaying the analogous graphical spacingbetween adjacent information elements between two consecutive timemarks.
 14. A non-transitory computer readable memory as recited in claim13, wherein the second vector or axis of information elements is adaptedto be, at least partially, displayable co-planar with the first vectoror axis of information elements.
 15. A non-transitory computer readablememory as recited in claim 13, wherein the selected characterizationattribute is selected from the group consisting of the characterizationattributes of the information elements of the first vector or axis ofinformation elements.
 16. A non-transitory computer readable memory asrecited in claim 13, wherein the first vector or axis of informationelements and the second vector or axis of information elements have atleast one information element in common.
 17. A non-transitory computerreadable memory as recited in claim 13, wherein the selectedcharacterization attribute is selected from the group consisting of thecharacterization attributes associated with at least one of theinformation elements of the first vector or axis of informationelements.
 18. A non-transitory computer readable memory as recited inclaim 13, wherein the selected characterization attribute is selected byselecting an information element from the first vector or axis ofinformation elements.
 19. A non-transitory computer readable memory asrecited in claim 13, wherein a displayed portion of the second vector oraxis of information elements represents a timeline adapted to displayinformation elements in a chronological order, the timeline having alinear timescale, wherein a plurality of time periods are visuallyrepresented with time marks being displayed on the first vector or axisseparated at equal lengths of distance, with each of the plurality oftime periods being displayed with a respective time mark, the displayedportion of the second vector or axis displaying an analogous graphicalspacing between adjacent information elements between two consecutivetime marks.
 20. A computing device comprising a processor, a userdisplay, and a non-transitory computer-readable memory containingcomputer-executable instructions for performing a method when executedby the processor, the instructions comprising: (a) displaying on theuser display information elements, associated with respective times, onan axis in different manners by switching between two different types oftimescale used for a timeline of the axis, the different types oftimescales comprising a linear timescale and a nonlinear timescale; (b)wherein the displaying further comprises, retrieving a plurality ofinformation elements from a storage location operably connected to thecomputing device, at least some of said information elements having atleast one characterization attribute associated therewith; graphicallyorganizing the plurality of information elements retrieved from thestorage location along a first vector or axis on the display; andreceiving input from a user of the computer corresponding to a selectedcharacterization attribute associated with a related informationelement, the selected characterization attribute being selected by theuser of the computer from among characterization attributes of theplurality of information elements along the first vector or axis; thefirst axis being adapted to graphically organize a subset of theplurality of information elements along a second vector or axis on thedisplay, the first and second vectors or axes being adapted to beorganized on the display such that the second vector or axis intersectsor adjoins the first vector or axis at a non-zero degree angle at alocation proximate to the related information element, wherein thesubset of the plurality of information elements includes informationelements having the selected characterization attribute associatedtherewith; wherein a displayed portion of the first vector or axis ofinformation elements represents a timeline adapted to displayinformation elements in a chronological order, the timeline having alinear timescale, wherein a plurality of time periods are visuallyrepresented with time marks being displayed on the first vector or axisseparated at equal lengths of distance, with each of the plurality oftime periods being displayed with a respective time mark, the displayedportion of the first vector or axis displaying an analogous graphicalspacing between adjacent information elements between two consecutivetime marks; wherein the method further includes, based on userinteraction, modifying the display of the first vector or axis such thatthe displayed portion of the timeline has a non-linear timescale,wherein a plurality of time periods are visually represented with timemarks being displayed on the first vector or axis separated at unequallengths of distance, with each of the plurality of time periods beingdisplayed with a respective time mark and with at least one informationelement being displayed with each time period, the displayed portion ofthe first vector or axis displaying the analogous graphical spacingbetween adjacent information elements between two consecutive timemarks.